There is a lot of work involved. You'll average 10 hour days. There is a lot of driving, mileage is compensated differently. There is a TON of paper work and process involved. You need to be VERY organized and stay on top of your work, it's easy to fall behind.High energy and playfulness needed to be successful photographing infants - preschoolers. This is not necessarily a CON but if it's not who you are it can be very draining.Commission pay. You never know what you pay will be like.

Advice to ManagementAdvice

There needs to be more training when it comes to PASSING. There is so much information that PASSER needs to know besides just selling. Manuals and videos are great, but it needs to be updated and a knowledge base needs to be created where the information easier to find.

I have been working at Nationwide Studios full-time (more than a year)

Pros

The company provides you with professional gear (camera, lights, backdrops, etc.) of the highest quality. Flexible schedules, but extremely busy during fall and spring seasons.

Cons

Straight commission. Requires 13 hour per day and weekend commitment. Typical day: 6:30 am set up at school - lug entire studio set up, three trips back and forth from car. Shoot anywhere from 15 to 100 kids with NO assistance. It would be good if this were a "part time gig" but it's not possible to do this job part-time. After shoot there's editing, data entry, and uploading but there's never time after shoot to accomplish this because there's another school to get to sell the photos you'd shot two weeks earlier. The "selling" process is so cumbersome - horrible. Most photographers/sales consultants work 13 to 16 hour days in season.

Advice to ManagementAdvice

Too many "old-timers" in management who like to do things the "old way" while they could be investing in new technology to enhance productivity and workflows so that photographers/consultants can earn a living. The turnover at this company is unbelievable - very poor retention. I've seen 100% turnover in photographer role.

I have been working at Nationwide Studios full-time (more than 3 years)

Pros

Looking at the photos of the children.

Cons

Co-workers are not nice, the supervisors have their favorites and clicks, they try to take away your full time status and give it to someone else you lose all benefits and go back to seasonal no matter how hard you work.

Advice to ManagementAdvice

Management should spend quality time in all departments and see how the supervisors are treating the employees.

I have been working at Nationwide Studios full-time (less than a year)

Pros

Paid TrainingThe people that trained me were very nice.

Cons

- After cold calling and getting clients, showing up to shoot the job, and then returning to sell the portraits which amounts to about 85-90% of the work, you only receive 25% commission. Don't even think about it in an area where you have to pay for parking. Seriously underpaid.- Endless hours of paperwork.-Prices compared to local competitors made it difficult to get jobs.

Pay sucks for what you needed to do. Drive all over sometimes in there were more then one photographer in your area you would pass each other on the highway to get to a school. Poorly managed. Not enough money for mileage it was more of a joke. More work was always demanded and the pay never change The company's solution was sell more you will make more. A lot of our areas people didn't make much. I would chose any other company to work for then this one. Medical insurance they supply is a joke I didn't realize it till I found my own I pay less and my co pays are les and my coverage is 100 percent better.

I have been working at Nationwide Studios full-time (less than a year)

Pros

You get a great week of paid training in Nashville. Other than that none.

Cons

No reliable income if you get any at all you can not make a living work in just one position in your territory based on their commission scale. No or little support from home office told one thing then they do another. Between home office and field reps there is a HUGE communication gap and it only ends up with losing accounts because of past issues that were never addressed.

Advice to ManagementAdvice

Don't hire new account reps on a commission only because we can't make a living yet we work pretty much 24/7 and bring home less than 100$ s a week while our photographers/ portrait consultants make more than 2 X's that and aren't expected to be working as much. This would be the greatest job ever if I was getting paid. Don't take someone else from a paying job for this if you can't pay them a live able wage. Account reps should receive hourly pay vs commission only because in many territories just working one position is well below minimum wage with your commission scale.

I have been working at Nationwide Studios full-time (more than a year)

Pros

Seasonal work so lots of time to yourself to spend with your family/vacation etc., get to work with kids which is a lot of fun.

Cons

You don't get paid nearly enough for the amount of hours you put in - in the fall and spring season you work 16 hours a day by the time you get everything done, 5 days a week. You get insanely sick from being around children and blowing their noses 4 hours a day. A lot of data entry and processes that are hard to keep track of. Corporate micromanages and is extremely unsupportive/unappreciative of their employees. Your car gets abused - and no you won't be reimbursed for any business expenses. The pay is terrible.

Advice to ManagementAdvice

Learn to appreciate your employees. Without us you would not make any money. Your lack of appreciation and the scraps you pay us is why your turnover is over 50%.

I have been working at Nationwide Studios full-time (less than a year)

Pros

On paper this looks like the perfect job for a photographer starting up their own business... It's a seasonal position so you are busy in the fall months and spring months. The other months you are pretty much free to do your own projects. I took this job with that line of thinking in mind. If you like working with children ages infant to about 5yrs old, then you would love this job. The quality of the portraits are outstanding and the photographic equipment provided by the company is professional quality. It's a great feeling to hear the parents reactions to the child's portraits...especially when they say something like..."How did you get Billy to smile? He never smiles for us!"

Cons

So what's hidden in the fine lines of the job description is the overwhelmingly amount of work this job requires. Here are the downers of this job:1) It's very physical (lifting equipment, setting up equipment, and a lot of bending to lift children on a table/platform. I now wear a back brace to support my back because of all the lifting.2) No matter how many vitamins you take and hand sanitizer you use, you will get sick...point blank period! In order to increase your sales, kids must have clean faces and noses...this is the grosses part of the job. I've been sick on 3 separate occasions...had to fight through it and still work.3) Tons of paper work and data entry. This job requires many hours...a photography session takes on average about 4 hours. If lucky you may get an 1-2 break in the afternoon to grab lunch and start some paper work. The sales sessions are in the later afternoon about 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Then when you get home you must download the images from the photo session and pick out the best poses and enter meta data for each photo. Depending on the number of kids photographed this can take 1-2 hours. For any sales made you have to enter those in the system which can take another 1-2 hours. If you don't want to get behind in paper work its best to get your paper work done or it will pile up. All photos and sales must be shipped back to the home office each Saturday. Whew! See that's a lot!4) 100% commission which I knew. The percentage is way too low based on the amount of work required.5) Very low reimbursement for gas. In less than 2 months I have put over 2,000 miles on my car. Each center is visited a minimum of 3 different times to complete the project. Could be more visits if its a multi-shoot school.

Advice to ManagementAdvice

Look for ways to increase the efficiency and productivity for your photographers and sales consultants. Most people take this job to photograph children. The paper work and data entry is way too much. Find a way to automate the sales process. For example, when a parent purchases a package the sales data is automatically submitted to the home office by using some form of tablet technology or a scanner for the control envelopes. Increase the commission or the reimbursement rate for the mileage. Provide more incentives like bonuses for top sellers within a territory.

I have been working at Nationwide Studios full-time (less than a year)

Pros

You get to do what you love every day, and you make your own schedules in the afternoons.

Cons

Have to be at schools before sunrise, pay percentage is terrible, company protects clients instead of protecting their employees, no milage/gas/travel compensation, cannot reschedule for emergencies, no compensation for the endless hours put in doing paperwork, training, team meetings and photo editing on your own time. Not the company's fault, but working around children means you will be sick often, and what *is* the company's fault is they don't let you reschedule for illness. I was forced to work with Pneumonia last season.

Advice to ManagementAdvice

Pay more attention to employee retention. Your clients are not happy with services or turnover, and it is because you don't pay your employees for their time and you don't back them up when the situation gets hairy with clients. If your staff cannot afford gas to attend a shoot, there is something dead wrong with your company policy.